Has the Cold War returned to East Asia?

The rise of a non-democratic China as the world ‘s second largest economy, still officially subscribing to Communism or ‘Socialism with Chinese characteristics’ as its ideology1^?1 In Xi Jinping's first speech as the new Chinese leader, after assuming his position as Party Secretary at the 18^th Party Congress in November 2012, he declared that, “we will ensure that our Party will remain at the core of leadership in advancing the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics”. Xinhua report on 19 November 2012. http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2012cpc/2012-11/19/content_15939817.htm. By adopting the term “Socialism with Chinese Characteristics” – zhongguo tese de shehui zhuyi, the Chinese Communist Party has argued that it has not abandoned socialism by introducing foreign capital and the opening up the Chinese economy to market forces. See for example a report on Deng Xiaoping's remarks to visiting Japanese delegation in 1984, “Build Socialism with Chinese Characteristics” People's Daily, 30 June 1984. http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/dengxp/vol3/text/c1220.html., has raised the spectre of the return of the Cold War to Asia with the United States and China on opposing sides, with China backed by Russia, its former Cold War ally. But to what extent are there historical parallels between the Cold War and the current East Asian international relations system?     

Assignment of the South Chinese Ordovician trilobite Calymene paronai to Neseuretus

Turvey, S.T. & Siveter, D.J., June 2007. Assignment of the South Chinese Ordovician trilobite Calymene paronai to Neseuretus. Alcheringa 31, 173‐183. ISSN 0311-5518.

Calymene paronai Pellizzari, 1913 Pellizzari, G. 1913. Fossili Palaeozoici antichi dello Scensi (Cina). Rivista Italiana di Palaeontologia, 19: 33–47.  [Google Scholar] was described on the basis of an almost complete enrolled specimen from the Ordovician (probably the early Llanvirn Yangtzeella poloi Biozone) of southern Shaanxi, China. It represents one of the first Chinese trilobite species to have been established, but has been almost completely ignored by subsequent workers. This species is redescribed and reassigned to the Gondwanan inner shelf indicator calymenid Neseuretus, compared with other South Chinese taxa previously assigned to this genus, and interpreted as a senior synonym of N. concavus Lu, 1975 Lu, Yanhao. 1975. Ordovician trilobite faunas of central and southwestern China. Palaeontologica Sinica, New Series B, 11: 1–463. (in Chinese and English) [Google Scholar].     

“Bao wei quan” 保位權, Chapter 20 of the Chunqiu fanlu 春秋繁露

This work provides an annotated translation, together with a brief commentary, of the “Bao Wei Quan” chapter, the 20th chapter of the Chunqiu fanlu. The Chunqiu fanlu is an important Chinese Confucian text. It is ascribed to a pivotal Former Han (206 BCE – 9 CE) scholar, an exegete of the Gongyang zhuan 公羊傳, Dong Zhongshu 董仲舒 (ca. 195–115 BCE). This text offered to readers an ideal of rulership that remained highly relevant to the development of the ethical and political discourse of Chinese Confucianism. Despite its importance, the Chunqiu fanlu has only very recently been fully translated into a Western language, ¹1 See Luxuriant Gems of the Spring and Autumn, attributed to Dong Zhongshu. Edited and translated by Sarah A. Queen and John S. Major (New York: Columbia University Press, [December] 2015).View all notes and is one of the rare major classical Chinese texts which still lacks a full Japanese translation. Thus, the purpose of this work is to contribute to the ongoing Chunqiu fanlu translation project and to present to the reader some of the form and content of this influential work.     

Could've Been a Contender: The Making and Breaking of “China” in the Ottoman Empire

Growing interest in global historical archaeology is often focused on commodities exchange, especially between the west and the rest. However, ceramics production and consumption in the Ottoman Empire during the fourteenth through twentieth centuries was not only between the Ottomans and the west, but also the Far East. Chinese porcelains served as inspiration for the production of many Ottoman ceramics, especially during the Empire's height in the sixteenth century. Although with less success, Ottoman ceramics contended for a place within local and global markets. This paper will examine the production and consumption of Ottoman ceramics as part of this empire's struggle to achieve and maintain power relationships globally, as well as within its own dominions.     

Progonocimicids (Hemiptera,Coleorrhyncha) from the Middle Jurassic Haifanggou Formation,western Liaoning,northeast China support stratigraphic correlation with the Daohugou beds

Jiang, J.-Q., Cai, C.-Y. & Huang, D.-Y., October 2015. Progonocimicids from the Middle Jurassic Haifanggou Formation, western Liaoning, northeast China support stratigraphic correlation with the Daohugou beds. Alcheringa 40, XXX–XXX. ISSN 0311-5518.

The hemipteran suborder Coleorrhyncha includes only 37 extant species assigned to the family Peloridiidae. However, the suborder’s fossil record is diverse and abundant. The extinct family Progonocimicidae is very common in Middle Jurassic strata of northeastern China, especially in the Daohugou beds of Ningcheng County, Inner Mongolia, and the Haifanggou Formation in Beipiao, Liaoning Province. We re-studied the established progonocimicid species and examined 27 new specimens, indicating that the species from Daohugou are junior synonyms of those from Haifanggou. The progonocimicids from the Haifanggou Formation are assigned to two species of Cicadocoris: C. brunneus (=Mesoscytina brunnea, =Mesocimex lini) and C. sinensis (=Cicadocoris anisomeridis). Both species are common in the Daohugou beds and the Haifanggou Formation. This discovery is of significance for biostratigraphic correlation of these two lithostratigraphic units. It also contributes to our understanding of the geological age of the famous Daohugou biota, which has yielded the earliest known feathered dinosaurs and diverse early mammals.

Jia-Qian Jiang [jiaqianjiang@126.com], State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy; Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, PR China; and Graduate School, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 19A Yuquanlu, Beijing 100049, PR China. Chen-Yang Cai [caichenyang1988@163.com], Di-Ying Huang [dyhuang@nigpas.ac.cn], State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, PR China.     

The first damsel-dragonfly (Odonata: Isophlebioidea: Campterophlebiidae) from the Middle Jurassic of Shaanxi Province,northwestern China

ZHENG, D., DONG, C., WANG, H., YE, Y., WANG, B., CHANG S-C. & ZHANG, H., May 2017. The first damsel-dragonfly (Odonata: Isophlebioidea:Campterophlebiidae) from the Middle Jurassic of Shaanxi Province, northwestern China. Alcheringa 41, 509–513. ISSN 0311-5518.

Campterophlebiidae is the most diverse family of fossil odonatans in China with ten genera recovered mostly from Middle Jurassic strata of Inner Mongolia. We describe a well-preserved campterophlebiid damsel-dragonfly from the Middle Jurassic Yanan Formation in Shanxi Province, northwestern China. This discovery adds to the diversity of Campterophlebiidae and identifies a new Middle Jurassic insect fossil locality in China. Within Campterophlebiidae, the new taxon most closely resembles Ctenogampsophlebia from the Middle Jurassic of Inner Mongolia but differs from other genera in having vein AA with four parallel posterior branches uncrossed in the anal triangle.

Daran Zheng [dranzheng@gmail.com] State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 39 East Beijing Road, Nanjing 210008, PR China; Department of Earth Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, PR China; Chong Dong [cdong@nigpas.ac.cn], He Wang [hwang@nigpas.ac.cn] and Haichun Zhang [hczhang@nigpas.ac.cn] State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 39 East Beijing Road, Nanjing 210008, PR China; Yifei Ye [459353251@qq.com] Shannxi Non-ferrous Yulin Coal Co., Ltd, Yulin, PR China; Bo Wang [bowang@nigpas.ac.cn] State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 39 East Beijing Road, Nanjing 210008, PR China; Key Laboratory of Zoological Systematics and Evolution, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, PR China; Su-Chin Chang [suchin@hku.hk] Department of Earth Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, PR China.     

New Chinese psocids from Eocene Fushun amber (Insecta: Psocodea)

Zhang, Q., Nel, A., Azar, D. & Wang, B. April 2016. New Chinese psocids from Eocene Fushun amber (Insecta: Psocodea). Alcheringa 40, xxx–xxx. ISSN 0311-5518

Two new Psocodea, Sinopsyllipsocus fushunensis gen. et sp. nov. and Eotriplocania sinica gen. et sp. nov., are described from Eocene amber of Fushun City, China. They are distinctly different from all known Psocodea from Fushun amber in their three-segmented tarsi. Sinopsyllipsocus fushunensis is the second unequivocal fossil of Psyllipsocidae. Eotriplocania sinica is the first Asiatic and oldest representative of the Neotropical family Ptiloneuridae, and reveals a formerly global distribution of the family. The discovery of these two families in Eocene Fushun amber suggests a rather warm palaeoclimate for the Fushun amber locality.

Qingqing Zhang [qqzhang@nigpas.ac.cn] and Bo Wang* [bowang@nigpas.ac.cn], State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, PR China^; Qingqing Zhang also affiliated with University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, PR China; André Nel [anel@mnhn.fr], Institut de Systématique, Évolution, Biodiversité, ISYEB—UMR 7205—CNRS, MNHN, UPMC, EPHE, Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, Sorbonne Universités, 57 rue Cuvier, CP 50, Entomologie, F-75005, Paris, France; Dany Azar [azar@mnhn.fr], Lebanese University, Faculty of Sciences II, Department of Natural Sciences, Fanar, Fanar—Matn—PO Box 26110217, Lebanon. *Also affiliated with: Key Laboratory of Zoological Systematics and Evolution, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing 100101, PR China.     

A new species of Loricera Latreille from Eocene Baltic amber (Coleoptera: Carabidae: Loricerinae)

Cai, C., Liu Y. & Huang, D., February 2017. A new species of Loricera Latreille from Eocene Baltic amber (Coleoptera: Carabidae: Loricerinae). Alcheringa xx, xxx-xxx. ISSN 0311-5518.

Loricerinae is a small, distinctive subfamily of ground beetles, comprising only one genus Loricera Latreille. Only one fossil species is known to date. Here, we describe a new species, Loricera groehni sp. nov., belonging to Loricera based on a well-preserved adult in Eocene Baltic amber. Loricera groehni is tentatively attributed to the obsoleta group of the subgenus Loricera s.str. based on the relatively long antennomere 3 and punctate elytral interval 7. The discovery of a new species morphologically close to the extant Loricera species from western China and northern India suggests that the obsoleta group was more widespread in the Eocene than it is at present. The distribution pattern of Chinese Loricera is probably relictual. The fossil species, possessing conspicuous stiff setae on the basal antennomeres, was probably a specialized predator of springtails.

Chenyang Cai [cycai@nigpas.ac.cn], Key Laboratory of Economic Stratigraphy and Palaeogeography, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, PR China; Ye Liu [liuye198282@126.com], Key Laboratory of Zoological Systematics and Evolution, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, PR China; Diying Huang [dyhuang@nigpas.ac.cn], State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, PR China.     

First fossil thaneroclerid beetle from mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber (Coleoptera: Cleroidea: Thanerocleridae)

Cai, C. & Huang, D., January 2018. First fossil thaneroclerid beetle in Upper Cretaceous Burmese amber (Coleoptera: Cleroidea: Thanerocleridae). Alcheringa 42, 115–119. ISSN 0311-5518.

Thanerocleridae is a small family of Cleroidea with no fossil representatives to date. Here we describe and figure the first fossil representative of Thanerocleridae, Cretozenodosus fossilis gen. et sp. nov., from the mid-Cretaceous amber of northern Myanmar. Cretozenodosus is referred to the extant subfamily Zenodosinae as evidenced by its open procoxal cavities and transverse procoxae. Cretozenodosus has close affinities with the North American Zenodosus Wolcott, suggesting that modern Zenodosinae is probably a relict group. Our discovery of a new thaneroclerid genus from Burmese amber suggests that Thanerocleridae originated no later than the mid-Cretaceous.

Chenyang Cai [cycai@nigpas.ac.cn] Key Laboratory of Economic Stratigraphy and Palaeogeography, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, PR China; Diying Huang [dyhuang@nigpas.ac.cn] State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, PR China.     

Stirrings at the Periphery: History, Archaeology, and the Study of Dian

Early Chinese texts speak of the Han state conquering the kingdom of Dian in southwest China in 109 B.C. The limited historical record is complemented by archaeolgical discoveries pointing to the presence in Yunnan province of a complex Bronze Age society whose association with the historical Dian has been generally accepted. Historiographic and nonprocessual in nature, archaeology in Yunnan has yet to generate the data needed for a deeper understanding of Dian social structure and change. Whatever its shortcomings, however, Dian archaeology plays a consistent and important role within a system of thought which gives preeminence to the historical record.     

Triassic palynostratigraphy and palynofloral provinces: evidence from southern Xizang (Tibet), China

Peng, J., Li, J., Slater, S.M., Li, W., Zhu, H. & Vajda, V. October 2017. Triassic palynostratigraphy and palynofloral provinces: evidence from southern Xizang (Tibet), China. Alcheringa 42, 67–86. ISSN 0311-5518.

Palynological analysis was carried out on Middle to Upper Triassic strata from Tulong, Nyalam County, southern Xizang (Tibet), China. Well-preserved miospore (pollen and spore) assemblages and sparse acritarch occurrences were identified. We recognized four formal and one informal biozones based on stratigraphically important taxa and compositional changes through the succession, in ascending order: the Triplexisporites Interval Zone (Anisian), the Staurosaccites quadrifidus Taxon-range Zone (upper Anisian to lower Norian), the Striatella Interval Zone (lower Norian), the Craterisporites rotundus Taxon-range Zone (middle to upper Norian) and the informal ‘Dictyophyllidites harrisii zone’ (Rhaetian). The zonation was supported by marine fossils (e.g., ammonoids and conodonts), and compositional similarity between the zones was examined using non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS). Correlation with other representative palynological sequences across Gondwana was also conducted. The presence of miospore taxa not previously recovered from the Late Triassic North and South China palynofloral provinces (e.g., Ashmoripollis reducta, Craterisporites rotundus, Enzonalasporites vigens, Minutosaccus crenulatus, Samaropollenites speciosus and Staurosaccites quadrifidus) calls for a new province in southwestern China, i.e., the Southern Xizang Province. It is proposed here that the modern expression of the northern boundary runs along the Yarlung Zangbo Suture, the remnant of the Tethys that separated the Indian Plate (southern Xizang) and the Lhasa Block during the Late Triassic. This new palynofloral province comprises typical elements of the Onslow Microflora, indicating the need for an extension of this microflora in southern Xizang, China.

Jungang Peng [jgpeng@nigpas.ac.cn], Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China, Department of Palaeobiology, Swedish Museum of Natural History, Stockholm 104 05, Sweden; Jianguo Li* [jgli@nigpas.ac.cn], Key Laboratory of Economic Stratigraphy and Palaeogeography, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China; Wenben Li [wenbenli@126.com], Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China; Sam M. Slater [sam.slater@nrm.se], Vivi Vajda [vivi.vajda@nrm.se], Department of Palaeobiology, Swedish Museum of Natural History, Stockholm 104 05, Sweden; Huaicheng Zhu [hczhu@nigpas.ac.cn], State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China.     

POETIC PRISM: THE CANADIAN FORUM IN THE GREAT DEPRESSION

This article ponders the quest for a new Quebec constitution. It critically analyzes a proposed Quebec constitution introduced as a bill in Quebec's National Assembly in 2007 ¹ 1. Québec Official Publisher (2007a Québec Official Publisher. 2007a. National Assembly, First Session, Thirty-Eighth Legislature, Bill 196, Québec Constitution. Québec Official Publisher http://www.assnat.qc.ca/eng/38legislature1/Projets-loi/Publics/07-a196.pdf (Accessed: 20 May 2008).  [Google Scholar]). and probes the meaning and significance of such a provincial constitution. It makes some comparisons of Quebec's current constitution with those of other provinces and concludes by reflecting on the political prospects and legal effects of such a proposed new constitution. The adoption of a new Quebec constitution, along the lines proposed in 2007 and 2008, should not significantly alter Canada's constitutional order under Canadian law or affect Quebec's current constitutional arrangements with Ottawa and the other provinces. Such a new constitution might, however, come to prevail over other Quebec laws. The objectives of the proposed new constitution are to forge and reinforce Quebecers' sense of a common political identity. The project, however, is not currently at the forefront of discussion.     

Revised conodont and fusuline biostratigraphy of the Bamchi Formation (Pyongan Supergroup) at the Bamchi section,Yeongwol and the Carboniferous–Permian boundary in South Korea

Wang, Q., Wang, Y., Qi, Y., Wang, X., Choh, S.J., Lee, D.C. & Lee, D.J., November 2017. Yeongwol and the Carboniferous–Permian boundary in South Korea. Alcheringa 42, 245–258. ISSN 0311-5518

Six conodont and one fusuline zones are recognized on basis of a total of 25 conodont and 13 fusuline species (including seven unidentified species or species given with cf. or aff. in total) from the Bamchi Formation, Yeongwol, Korea. The conodont zones include the Streptognathodus bellus, S. isolatus, S. cristellaris, S. sigmoidalis, S. fusus and S. barskovi zones in ascending order, which can be correlated with the conodont zones spanning the uppermost Gzhelian to Asselian Age of the Permian globally. The fusuline zone is named the Rugosofusulina complicata–Pseudoschwagerina paraborealis zone. The co-occurrence of the conodont Streptognathodus isolatus (the Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point index for the base of Permian) and Pseudoschwagerina (a Permian inflated fusuline) indicates that the Carboniferous–Permian boundary can be placed in the lower part of the Bamchi Formation in South Korea.

Qiulai Wang* [qlwang@nigpas.ac.cn] CAS Key Laboratory of Economic Stratigraphy and Palaeogeography, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, East Beijing Road 39, Nanjing 210008, PR China; Yue Wang* [yuewang@nigpas.ac.cn] LPS, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, East Beijing Road 39, Nanjing 210008, PR China; Yuping Qi* [ypqi@nigpas.ac.cn] Xiangdong Wang* [xdwang@nigpas.ac.cn] CAS Key Laboratory of Economic Stratigraphy and Palaeogeography, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, East Beijing Road 39, Nanjing 210008, PR China; Suk-Joo Choh [sjchoh@korea.ac.kr] Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Korea University, Seoul 02841, Republic of Korea; Dong-Chan Lee [dclee@chungbuk.ac.kr] Department of Earth Sciences Education, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju 28644, Republic of Korea; Dong-Jin Lee [djlee@andong.ac.kr] Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Andong National University, Andong 36729, Republic of Korea. *Also affiliated with: University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 19A Yuquan Road, Shijingshan District, Beijing 100049, PR China.     

A new fossil sinoalid species from the Middle Jurassic Daohugou beds (Insecta: Hemiptera: Cercopoidea)

Fu, Y., Cai, C. & Huang, D., October 2017. A new fossil sinoalid species from the Middle Jurassic Daohugou beds (Insecta: Hemiptera: Cercopoidea). Alcheringa 42, 94–100. ISSN 0311-5518.

A new fossil species, Luanpingia daohugouensis sp. nov., belonging to the family Sinoalidae is described from the Middle to Upper Jurassic Daohugou beds of Inner Mongolia, China, on the basis of two well-preserved complete specimens. The described species of Sinoalidae are reviewed and Jiania gracila is considered a junior synonym of Jiania crebra. The new discovery increases the palaeodiversity of sinoalids from the Daohugou beds. It also indicates stratigraphic correlation between the Daohugou beds, the Haifanggou Formation at Haifeng, Beipiao City, West Liaoning Province, and the Jiulongshan Formation at Zhouyingzi, Luanping County, Hebei Province. All of these units host the ‘early assemblage’ of the Yanliao biota.

Yanzhe Fu [yzfu41@163.com], Key Laboratory of Economic Stratigraphy and Palaeogeography, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, PR China; University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, PR China; Chenyang Cai [cycai@nigpas.ac.cn], Key Laboratory of Economic Stratigraphy and Palaeogeography, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, PR China; Diying Huang* [dyhuang@nigpas.ac.cn], State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, PR China.